Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-04-04

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] HONEY QUANTITIES ARE BEING TESTED

[02] SECURITY MEASURES AND EMOTION

[03] THE ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ON A VISIT TO GREECE

[04] ARREST FOR INTERNET CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

[05] BUSINESSMEN VISITED THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE

[06] CLOSE TO NORMALIZED RELATIONS WITH THE PALESTINIANS

[07] THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SEES GREECE'S DEFICIT AT 4.5%

[01] HONEY QUANTITIES ARE BEING TESTED

Deputy Minister of Development Yiannis Papathanasiou announced the immediate withdrawal of honey quantities in which a cancer-causing suspect substance was traced.

The majority of the Greek beekeepers do not use the cleansing solution that includes the suspect substance, while a significant number of honeycombs have been replaced and the replacement of the remaining ones proceeds in a quick pace, stated Deputy Agriculture Minister Alexandros Kontos.

However, Thessaloniki's Aristotle University Apiculture Department believes that the limit of 10 micro grams per litre set by the European Union is used to trace the specific substance and does not represent a risk level. It is also mentioned that the substance is dangerous only if the daily consumption of honey by a single individual is greater than 40 kilos.

[02] SECURITY MEASURES AND EMOTION

The day of the funeral of Pope John Paul B' will be set by the conclave of cardinals. The Pope died last Saturday evening after a long illness.

Most likely days of the funeral are Thursday or Friday while the new Pope will be elected next week.

The Berlusconi government will take emergency security measures on the occasion of the funeral, which is expected to attend millions of faithful and over 200 state leaders and tens of religious dogmas representatives, among them Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

[03] THE ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ON A VISIT TO GREECE

Romania's Minister of Defense Teodor Atanasiu will be on a formal visit to Greece on April 5 and 6 as the guest of his Greek counterpart.

The two Ministers of Defense will discuss a wide spectrum of issues concerning bilateral military cooperation while they will examine prospects of cooperation between the defense industries of the two countries and cooperation within the framework of NATO and the EU. Also, they will examine international developments in the sector of security particularly, in the Balkan region.

[04] ARREST FOR INTERNET CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The Athens police solved another Internet child pornography case in which a 43-year-old owner of a nightclub in the island of Myconos is involved.

The individual arrested is accused of using child pornographic material on the Internet since 2001.

According to information, the boys and girls appearing on the photos are between the ages of 5 and 15 and are Greek. For the record, a quantity of drugs was also found in the Myconos nightclub.

[05] BUSINESSMEN VISITED THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis held separate meeting today with Greek businessmen to discuss the government's economic development policy and the problems faced by the Greek producers.

The Prime Minister wants to hear the businessmen views on the improvement of legislation on fields that concern them.

Among the businessmen to meet with Prime Minister Karamanlis are Vardis Vardinoyiannis, Vasilis Konstantakopoulos and Athens' Commerce and Industry Chamber President Drakoulis Fountoukakos.

[06] CLOSE TO NORMALIZED RELATIONS WITH THE PALESTINIANS

Patriarch Irenaeus of Jerusalem had a meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmet Qurey yesterday.

No details were given on the content of the talks but the meeting is characterized as important given the fact that the Palestinian Authority had asked for the removal of Patriarch Irenaeus.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Panagiotis Skandalakis met at the Fener and discussed Patriarchate related issues. Mr. Skandakis reiterated that Greece is always offering assistance to all Patriarchates but does not interfere with their internal affairs.

[07] THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SEES GREECE'S DEFICIT AT 4.5%

Based on the European Commission spring predictions, Greece's fiscal deficit in 2005 will be at 4.5% without taking under consideration the package of taxation measures announced in March by the Greek government.

The predictions are included in the European Commission report on the basic economic indexes of the EU member states in 2005-2006 issued in Brussels today.

According to the same predictions, in 2006 deficit will be at 4.4% while growth rate will be at 2.9% in 2005 and at 3.1% next year.

The European Commission predicts that unemployment in Greece will be at 10.5% in 2005 and at 10.3% in 2006. The harmonized consumer prices index will be at about 3.2% both in 2005 and 2006.

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